The Power of Cumulative Work, the Ebb and Flow of Progress, and a Story About a Shed

“A process cannot be understood by stopping it. We must move with the flow of the process. We must join it. We must flow with it.” -Frank Herbert, from Dune

Recently, I was over at my future in-laws’ house for a nice dinner to celebrate my soon-to-be Mother-in-Law’s birthday and Mother’s Day. Following a nice dinner and conversation, we were sitting in the backyard beside the fire.

Warm weather, the smell of the open flame, and being around loved ones – it was a perfect night to signify the joyful beginnings of the impending summer. ????

While contently sitting in front of the open flame, I looked back with wonder and appreciation at the shed that my fiancé's father had built. It’s a beautiful shade of blue, has a ton of space, and complements the yard perfectly.

The shed was a DIY project that he worked on outside of his day job– he is a very handy man and on weekends he would chip away at this shed construction project by hand. I helped on a few of those weekends (when I say “helped”, I meant I held down wood in place so the master could do his work).

The shed is about 95% done and just needs some final touches on the siding and roofing.

I said: “Shed is looking good.”

He says: “It took 2 years, but at least it will be done.”

In my mind, it didn’t even occur to me that the project did indeed start close to 2 years ago. Life happened in the meantime – birthdays, travel, work, wedding planning, vacations, and finding a free Saturday or Sunday where the weather was good enough all factored in.

It occurred to me after talking with my future father-in-law, that this awesome shed was a long project, filled with ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and periods of lull and progress. To the outsider, we just saw a sleek-looking navy blue shed.

This story of the shed is a great teaching point on the fact that progress on a granular level is up and down and, in the thick of it, can feel stagnant.

Balancing “Life” and Work

In theory, we like to think of projects existing in a perfect vacuum, void of any outside influences, gradually progressing a perfectly linear path.

In an ideal world, if I have a project to work on, I should completely stop everything else in life to work on that project until it is completed and then move on, right?

If I have an injury in the gym, I should completely stop everything and dedicate every fiber of my being to the rehab process. My life goes on hold until I am healed, and then I can move on, right?

If I have a book I am reading – wouldn’t it make sense to just read the book at the exclusion of everything else to finish it?

Life does not work like that and if we lived this way, we may find ourselves jobless and with a very angry spouse. ?

Most of us have a family to tend to, a career to grow, and many other responsibilities that come with being a functional adult. Life does not get put on hold to complete our projects - work does not exist in a vacuum.

At any one time, there are multiple levels of “things” that we must tend to – things we need to progress, things we need to maintain, and things we need to do just to function each day.

We need to make an income to provide for our family so we work; however, we cannot work so much that we completely neglect our family that we are providing for in the first place!

We must practice the guitar consistently and continue to take lessons if we want to get better at the guitar. However, we cannot practice the guitar so much that it interferes with our job, which provides us the income to be able to take guitar lessons in the first place.

We should be regularly reading things (books, articles, videos) about growing a business if we want to create our own business. But we would lose our business if we spent all our time reading about business rather than tending to that business!

These are extreme examples, but you get the point – there is a finite amount of time that we can dedicate to any one thing. The more “things” we have in our lives takes up time that would interfere with our main goal.

This is what makes growth as an adult complicated, up and down, volatile, and all over the place.

But does this mean we have to wait until the timing is just right and the stars are aligned before we begin every project?

No. If we waited for that, we would never start projects in the first place.

This is the point of the shed story. Life is full of ups and downs and distractions, but with consistent action, even the most minute amount of work done consistently, added up over a long period of time, can create sheds and move mountains.

Recruiting

In recruiting, we are always doing 17 different things at once. I have written about the power of extreme focus, but there are times when we may have a “main” project or goal while simultaneously keeping our other responsibilities maintained or even progressed.

The story of the shed sheds light on how we can keep projects in the locum of focus even when life gets in the way. Building a recruitment career is about the long game – we fall out of touch with great candidates and clients, but when we are still consistently reaching out and getting our touch points over the long haul, we still can move the needle in building a book of business (placeable candidates).

Does it take time and seem like time is not moving forward? Yes of course.

Are there periods of time where it feels like nothing is happening? Yes

Does it seem like it is not even worth reaching out to 5 candidates in a busy day when we are putting out fires with existing business? Yes, but we do it anyways.

Things seem static at some points, even regressed.

The dirty little secret is this – success takes TIME and no matter how hard one works, we still need the simple accumulation of time for work to mature, to grow, and to realize its potential etc. It’s like planting the seed of a tree, watering every day and letting the roots take shape.

So, the next time you feel that time is standing still, just make sure that you are still putting work in on your “shed” – call your candidates, reach out, send those messages, the project will eventually get done, even as life happens in the meantime. ?